Hot on the heels of James Bay’s Grammy-nominated success with his hit “Hold Back the River,” we went into concepting the video for James Bay’s more personal ballad “Scars” with the idea of keeping James and his music as the central focus.

To keep the feeling for viewers intimate and “in the moment,” we filmed a seemingly single-take video that built in intensity from a solo, tight black-and-white performance around an exposed light bulb, to a full-color, stage-lit rock concert with full backing band that at the end revealed it was in a hangar-sized warehous

Even without any paid promotion, the video reached 2 million views in the first month and received widespread critical acclaim. Current view count: 40 million and counting.